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'Quit-Facebook' day backlash, as Facebook traffic skyrockets

Facebook was the world's most visited web site in April according to a report commissioned by Google, despite the privacy backlash.

Facebook was the world's most visited web site in April according to a report commissioned by Google's search engine.

The social networking juggernaut had more than 540 million unique visitors for the month, or roughly 32 percent of the current online population. Facebook also triggered 570 billion page views throughout the month, surpassing all other leading websites.

It is the first time Facebook has topped the monthly traffic list. Previous milestones include beating Google to the top spot for the week ended March 13, while it was the most visited site last Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Today's traffic milestone coincides with the declaration of May 31 as ‘quit-Facebook' day by two Canadian activists worried about recent changes to the site's privacy settings, which make it easier for it to access and sell personal information without user's permission, or even their knowledge.

Facebook founder, 26-year old Mark Zuckerberg has come under intense criticism recently for alleged privacy breaches, and the company has been put on notice by both US and European privacy regulators. Google has also raised the ire of privacy advocates, most recently after it was found to have been collecting private data via public and unsecured WiFi networks as part of its Google Maps activities.

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